provide you with a warm welcome and thank you for somebody who worked on this idea to bring everybody here to san francisco, my very good friend. thank you. where are you? when we first talked about this, we said there had to be the place where everybody felt comfortable. there had to be a place where we could feel the excitement of all very different asian american groups. we had to have a place where something wonderful had been accomplished. a leadership change, one that we never thought in our lifetimes. by the way, as you know, i never thought in our lifetimes we would see an african-american president of the united states. what a wonderful location, that is something to celebrate.

he has been here many times, president obama. the very surprised we had of being able to celebrate the first asian mayor of san francisco. it was not my doing, it was all of the people of san francisco saying it is about time we celebrate. thank you to the people of san [applause] i have a very short message. what did i have felt very strongly in my first elected year, but also during my tenure as interim mayor. we have a great deal of celebrate. we also have a great challenge in front of us. there are so many of our asian american friends, iranian friends, friends from the philippines, friends from our japanese-american community, are chinese-american community, waiting for the opportunity to

come together to celebrate our diversity, but also to signal to our european friends, our latino france, we are ready to help lead this state. and helped change the conversation and not only celebrate diversity, but use diversity for our strength. that is our strength. i want to signal to you, let's come together, let's use this opportunity to make sure we can celebrate our strength throughout the state. i also want to welcome carmen chu. thank you for joining us. we can really celebrate and we can bring this state for because i know -- he does not want to be alone in san francisco

suggesting change. nobody wants to be alone. all of us can contribute to a more positive outlook on life. guess what -- when we look at where we came from, when we look at the parents that brought us here, the generations before us, we learned a great lesson. we learned lessons they faced, there were struggling to get past the barriers of discrimination. past the barriers of economic privilege, past the barriers of the new immigrants to this country. they forged ahead. some of us aren't new generations, the generation of kids i want to -- some of us are new generations. make sure they have a big opportunity in san francisco. we hope you do not have those barriers that our parents did. we hope that you do not run into

the road blocks that we had to struggle for. we hope that our lawsuits, are street advocacy, -- our street advocacy, and all the places we struggled with in our generations, that you never have to go through. the only way we can do that is to make sure the door is always open to everybody else. that is our promise, we have to keep that, we have to keep our education strong, we have to keep our economic foundation strong, we have to keep our opportunities strong. thank you. i am honored. let us celebrate. on behalf of the city and county of san francisco, i officially declare this to be asian pacific heritage month in san francisco and the state of california. welcome. [applause]

>> i am going to make one correction. he said president obama is the first african-american president. president obama crew up in hawaii. -- grew up in hawaii. it makes him an honorary asian- american. he is the first asian-american president as well. tonight's events would not be possible without our community partners. a group that helped make all this happened, i am going to read them all. the asian business alliance, asian law alliance, the asian pacific american leadership institute, chinese-american cultural association, chinese

american political association, citizens for better community, culture to culture, why in the chamber of commerce of northern care of -- kawai and chamber of commerce of northern california, northern california chinese athletic association, national association of american professionals, national federation of independent business, national federation of filipino americans, the filipino chamber of commerce, around of applause for all of our community partners, please. that was a lot. [applause] >> i am so glad he had to do that. our next speaker is u.s.

congressmen. he is representing the 15th congressional district of california in the u.s. house of representatives. in congress, he is a member of the powerful house appropriations and budget committee. share of the democratic caucuses, new media working group, house democratic senior went, and the original author of the equity and excellence commission now housed in the u.s. department of education. his district includes silicon valley, the birthplace of technology. mike has dedicated his life to public service and is lauded for his work on education, civil- rights national service, immigration, transportation, the environment, and high-tech issues.

>> he is also the greatest karaoke sing their -- singer and all of congress. -- in all of congress. [applause] >> he just told me i had five minutes. what do you think of this program? [applause] it is about time. i want to thank francis and fong. i think this is the very first statewide heritage month held with the mayor of san francisco. let me say something about heritage month in san francisco

and your mayor. in the old days, you remember san francisco was known for passing all of these anti- chinese ordinances to limit the movement, the productivity of chinese in the city. we know two things. change happens. maybe the state of california is the state of golden opportunities, where we have a chinese-american mayor of san francisco. 35 years ago, congress members passed similar resolutions in both house and the senate to formally recognize the first 10 days of may as asian-pacific heritage week. one year later, president jimmy

carter signed into law a joint resolution to officially designate the annual celebration. 11 years later, president george bush extended the weeklong celebration to an entire month. you know and i know that our mothers say that every day is asian pacific american day. i want to recognize all of the milestones the api has made in the state of california and in the entire country. the caucus has a record of 42 members in the asian caucus in congress. one of their very first things we want to say is it was a young man who was the first member -- we want to make note of that. the reestablishment of the white

house initiative by president obama was another accomplishment. president obama's cabinets has dr. steven chu. the very first asian-american -- as ambassador to the republic of china. we have a lot of accomplishments. it was not that accident, my friends. everyone of you know that you work hard. all these things are done on purpose. i want to let you know that we also can boast twice as many asian-americans on federal benches. those of us to understand the impact of the supreme court and what it can do or on june, we

know that having asian-americans on the federal bench is a line up for appointments to the supreme court. thank you very much for this opportunity. i want to say that silicon valley is the birthplace of high-tech. silicon valley is the birthplace of norm. five minutes? thank you very much. [applause] >> thank you, congressmen. we would have extended the five minutes if we got a karaoke's song. >> this event would have not been possible by the financial contributions of our sponsors. we want to thank chevron corp., wells fargo, mcdonald's, academy of arts university, at&t,

southwest airlines. if you have not entered their raffled yet, do so later tonight. comcast, walmart, verizon, moon star restaurant. >> we go from the greatest karaoke's singer in the house of congress to the self-proclaimed worst karaoke singing in public office. i would like to introduce california state controller, serving his second term. he takes a hard-line and took immediate action to weed out waste, fraud, and abuse of

public funds. and to amend the state's finances more transparent and accountable to the public -- and to make the state's finances more transparent and accountable to the public. [applause] >> i will spare you what the distinguished council president requested me to do, which is to sing for all of you. we used to go out for karaoke, but he would sing and i would leave. this is a magnificent evening. we gather tonight in celebration of asian-pacific heritage month. we take a moment to reflect upon our past, to understand the heroic struggles, obstacles, hardships that so many people, including this evening's

tremendous honor read, had to overcome. this is a very special place. norm gave me the good fortune of putting my feet to the marble in the halls of congress. we will give the opportunity to 20 interns this summer so that they can partake in the greatest democracy that has ever resided on this planet. this is also a tremendous significance as congressmen alluded to. this is the home were people left when i came to this country, when they had to leave the fields of california from farming. that applies to the filipinos

and two others. they set foot in san francisco. a generation upon generation, of residence of san francisco had to endure the struggles and have made this city a very special place. i am very excited about the leadership that presides over san francisco today. mayor lee, supervisor chiu, mar, chu, and we had the treasurer. this ought to be a moment in which we celebrate the aspirations and the fact that we have risen to the governance of this country. the fact that we have changed the opportunity. last night, i have the opportunity to listen to an 86- year-old honoree at the gathering last night.

she's had spoken about how her life was different and the opportunities that were denied because she was jewish. because of the efforts of norm and mike and your leade in, asiy are not denied opportunities because of where they come from. we are aspiring and we are leaving california and america in a new generation. -- leading california and america in a new generation. we have an obligation to lead in the 21st century. we are providing leadership in all areas that govern this country. technology, health, academia, commerce, art, entertainment, and government. today, we must come together, not only in celebration, but an

acknowledgment of the work that lies ahead. we understand that this is a global economy. the opportunities are ones that we can only surpassed if we come together. we can win the future if we dream together, if we work together. as a society, as an economy, the best is yet to comment. let me leave you with this last idea. every moment affords us an opportunity to change the world. let's seize that moment in each and every moment that succeeds that moment and let's do that together in celebration of our asian-pacific heritage and recognition of the great heritage as all the people that make up san francisco and california. we will truly honored this month, our heritage and our future.

thank you very much. [applause] >> ok. all right. we have some competition on the stage right now. >> a couple of other people we need to thank. we have a bunch of co-hosts, the san francisco board of supervisors. a round of applause, please. [applause]

our event shares and co-chairs. [reading names] >> all right, thank you. [applause] >> those people give money, so please applaud. >> next, i would like to introduce betty yee, the 2014 candidate for controller. john, maybe you could give her

some advice. [applause] >> good evening. as we celebrate the contributions of some very important figures in our history, who have contributed to the development of our country, every state, of this great city, as we honor the achievements of the congressmen, ongoing contributions, and our mayor in san francisco. each of us could not be doing the work we are doing, that we have done, without the doors of opportunity having been opened for each of us. making sure we are developing the leaders of tomorrow as part

of the integral programs of leadership development and civic engagement. the internships program is designed to prepare college students to become our future leaders. by providing them with the opportunities to work with government agencies, they develop their leadership skills, public policy experience, and broaden their civic engagement. they have demonstrated a dedication to the community, and they will continue in their engagement by working professionally with their fellow peers and mentors. warning in workshops to enhance their leadership skills emperor -- learning and workshops to enhance their leadership skills. we thank the local state and federal offices before hosting an intern and we think of the elected officials for their continued leadership and for opening the door for mentoring are new leaders. please join me in congratulating

and welcoming the internships class of 2012. will you please join me on stage? [applause] mayor, will you join us for a photograph, please?

>> thank you very much, ladies and gentlemen. one more round of applause.

[applause] if you look around you tonight, you will see poster board. celebrating, acknowledging, the first asian americans. we have the first asian-american actress in hollywood. the first asian-american nba player. the first members of congress. these interns are the future of our community. they are the reason why we are here today. we're also here to celebrate and recognize one of the greatest members of our community. this year it is the first year we are giving the lifetime achievement award. the lifetime achievement award

this year is going to secretary norman manetta. he is a trailblazer. a man who paved the way for many of us. he was the first asian-american mayor of a major city. he was elected to congress 10 times. he was the first person to serve two presidents in a cabinet. first as secretary of commerce to president clinton, secretary of transportation to president bush. it was on 9/11 that secretary mineta showed us what he was made of. he made the call to ground all of the planes. it was secretary mineta who instituted the policy is --

policies at tsa. it was secretary mineta who prevented the profiling of arab- americans and muslim americans in our country. tonight, we honor secretary mineta and we give them -- him this for a very special reason. i want to thank the san francisco giants for donating this bat. the reason why we are giving this back to secretary mineta is because of what happened to him when he was a young boy. secretary mineta was forced to relocate into the internment camps. as a young boy, he was taken to

the train station by military police officers. as a young boy, he was a huge baseball fan and he had his prized possession with him, his baseball bat. military police saw the young boy with his baseball bat and said you are not taking it with you. that is a weapon. what did they do? they took away his prized possession. later on in his life as a member of congress, a very generous person heard the story and offered him an autographed hank aaron bat. as a member of congress, you are not allowed to accept a gift valued over $200. so the government took away his back again. tonight, we cannot replace the bat that was taken away from that young boy. but we do give them something

that we hope will take its place. ladies and gentlemen, i present to you the first ever recipient to of the lifetime achievement award for services rendered to the asian american community and services rendered to our nation. i give to you secretary mineta. [applause] >> i cannot think of a more appropriate gift tonight than to receive this bat. i want to thank the mayor, and everyone, members of the board